I have written a book on the politics of autism policy. Building on this research, this blog offers insights, analysis, and facts about recent events. If you have advice, tips, or comments, please get in touch with me at jpitney@cmc.edu

But school districts are not losing cases because of the new Endrew F. standard, said Perry Zirkel, a professor emeritus of education and law at Lehigh University, who has been tracking the impact of the case. Forty-nine cases were decided by a judge who cited Endrew F. and applied its standard that a special education program must be "reasonably calculated to enable a child to make progress in light of the child's circumstances." Of those, 44 saw no change in the decision, and in 37 of those cases, the decision was for the school district. In two cases, the case was sent back for further evaluation.
In three cases, the decision was reversed. But on one occasion, a decision that had been in favor of the parents was reversed, with the district prevailing under the Endrew F.standard.

In several situations, judges said that local practices already met the standard outlined by the Endrew F. case, Zirkel noted.

"Anyway you slice it, it hasn't changed the trends," he said. "The same folks are still winning—the districts."

Those findings match what Catherine Merino Reisman, a lawyer who represents parents in special needs cases and works out of Haddonfield, N.J., has seen.

"It's only been a year, and it's going to take some time for the lower courts to apply Endrew," she said. Reisman said that judges in the federal judicial circuit where she works say that its "meaningful benefit" standard is equivalent to that laid out by the high court. Reisman thinks that the Supreme Court case offers more specific guidance than just "meaningful benefit."

The rights
approach puts a great burden on parents to serve as advocates for their
children.Highly-educated, affluent
parents are in a better position to do so than the poor and uneducated:for one thing, their social networks are more
likely to include lawyers and expert witnesses.[i]
But even the best-equipped parents are at a disadvantage against school
district administrators and other bureaucrats. Like their representatives in
Washington and state capitals, they are “repeat players.”Their experience and expertise give them an
edge that the parents’ special-education lawyers can only partially overcome.